Synthetic Biology Installation

Synthetic biologists, designers, artists, engineers and architects worked together at Edinburgh International Festival to explain key concepts of Synthetic Biology

biomorphis was commissioned to represent a protein translation via a live installation. The installation consists of a projection and a live interactive performance assisted by RFID-tagged objects. The projection is a virtual articulated sculpture which unfolds when real-life dancers scan a 3D printed model of tRNA messenger.

Digital Technology is used to visualise the organisation of DNA strands and the construction of proteins based upon the movement of dancers and members of the audience as they mimic the nanoscopic processes within our bodies.

In addition to the use of animations, images and 3 dimensional models, the audience was invited to take part in time-based representations of how aspects of our bodies work by becoming the genetic material in a Synthetic Biology Dance.

The sculpture is a live machine. Each passage of the dancers triggers the ribosome via RFID tags and a reader.